Business email

Targeted email marketing is one of the most effective tools being used by internet marketers to get people to know more about their products, and ultimately to patronize their products. As its name suggests, targeted email marketing are emails sent to one's target market. An email marketer does this by devising a way to build as many email addresses of his target market.

One of the most common strategies being used by email marketers is the sign-up box placed in their website. Most often, the sign up box pops up in the website and asks the internet user if he wants to avail of certain products for free. These products can come in the form of newsletters, white papers, recipes, or just about anything to encourage the user to sign up and reveal his email address.

Once the user has signed up, he will be asked to check several boxes as to what products he would prefer to receive and on what topics. Through the sign up process, the webmaster gets not only the user's address but his preferences, hobbies, interests and other matters that would b e useful for internet marketers.

The target markets or users that have signed up for newsletters or any free items would then receive the newsletters weekly, depending on the program being used by the webmaster. Such newsletters will include topics that are of interest to the user. If the internet marketer is selling health-related products then perhaps the newsletter will feature interesting topics on health, proper diet, even healthy recipes. With the newsletters are especial offers about the products being sold. Unknowingly, the user is being bombarded with information which would make him give in and realize that he has a need for the products being sold.

A good email marketer will use soft selling and not hard selling in advertising g his products through the newsletters. Having the right information about the target market will create the difference in successful email marketing. The more you know about the interests and buying habits of your target market, the more chances of you giving him the necessary materials to encourage him to buy your products.

To be effective, targeted email marketing must make use of a strong headline. The marketer must make a proposition to his target market, and make it easy for the target market to respond to such proposition by making a possible set of actions available to him in just one click.

No reader would give even a glance at a piece of material which does not have an interesting headline. The first thing the reader will look at is the headline so it must be captivating and complete in itself. Man is by nature egoistic so take advantage of this knowledge and condition and make your target market believe that the article was specifically written for him. From the headline itself, make your readers feel that they are reading something that would make a difference in their lives. Something t hat would enhance their beauty, body and mind. The clincher here though, is that most readers would take a second d look at an article with the word sale in it.

You must believe in your product to make your sales pitch, which is in the guise of an article, more believable and more persuasive. If you do not believe in your product then it will show with your words. Words are magical and so powerful they can make or break your marketing campaign. So if you are not an effective writer then you better hire one if only to make your article more punchy and persuasive.

Make the readers fell that they have a need for the product and you are giving them a favor by making such products available to them. The magic word here is benefit; anything that would benefit your reader would persuade them to read and to make use of your product. Everyone wants to improve his beauty, his physique and his mind. Everyone wants to become a better person. Everyone wants to make money. Take your cue from these and you will not go wrong with the articles you supply your target market. However, do not give the readers everything in the email. If your goal is to increase website traffic, then give them something to salivate on which will encourage them to click the lick to your website.

Give your reader a choice as to what you want him to do after reading your email. Most emails have great articles that are persuasive. However, they failed to include choices of what they want their readers to do after reading the articles. And even if you presented choices of action to your readers, why should they do that? What would be their benefits if they follow your proposition and call to action?

And while you have much information to reveal in your email, do not tire your readers. Make the email short and concise. Your readers are busy people and they do not have all day top read your email. And even if they do have the rest of the day, they would not spend it reading your email especially if you do not offer them something in return.

Opt-in email marketing works with any business model, you can make money following some key rules. When you have someone’s email address, they are practically inviting you to come sell them something. They want to hear from you, hear the updated news; they want to receive your information. This means lifetime valuable relationships with customers who are interested in what you have to say. You can see the results of the email you have just sent out within hours, which means no wasted advertising dollars, you know what works and what doesn’t, simple as that. Opt-in email marketing is not only effective and instantaneous, but free.

You can utilize opt-in email marketing if you already have an online business, or an offline business, or no business at all. For offline business, collect email addresses from your clients and send them an occasional email with a discount and watch the appointment book get filled up quickly. Drive qualified buyers to your web site by sending your customers a free report or newsletter subscription which entices them to buy the full version. So, what if you do not have a business at all. Everyone has an interest that they are passionate about, whether it is yoga, or fishing. Start writing information packed newsletter about your favorite topic and recommend other people’s products or services for a commission on any sales you send them. Post your free newsletter offer on online newsgroups, or other newsletters. You will get a lot of subscribers because it is free.

How to Build your Opt-In List

Some companies decide to send customers a free newsletter to get an email list. But there are other ways to collect email addresses. Sometimes having a newsletter just doesn’t make any sense for your company. For instance, if you happen to sell dishwashers, how much information could you send your customer, daily, on dishwashers. So, instead here are a few other options for increasing your email list.

You could run a contest. The puzzle, game or task should be easy and straightforward so that you don’t frustrate the customer and you still get their email address in the end.

A great incentive to collect email addresses would be a free eBook. People love getting free stuff, especially eBooks that interest them. Remember, it doesn’t have to be 100 pages long; five to ten pages will work fine.

Surveying the customer is a great way to collect email addresses. You can find out what the customer likes/dislikes, and what they have problems with or need solutions for.

Advertise your opt-in offer in an e-zine or classified ad. It actually doesn’t cost tons of money and if you find the right place to advertise, you could see dramatic results.

Email signatures, or electronic signatures, also referred to as a, sig file is a three to six line footer that you can add to the bottom of each email message you send out with your name, company and a free report with a link attached. You will be surprised how many visitors you get this way. Make sure you track where you are getting your traffic by the different links you send out.

If a customer is interested in downloading an article from your web site, they will definitely have no problem providing their name and email address. They will love to receive more articles from you or have access to a members only area of your site with plenty of resources.

Offer your customers a free course or a free download to collect email addresses. They will love to get something for free. Customers who opt-in when something free is being offered think to themselves what have I got to lose. It a great deal for both of you.

Simple email Strategies

Don't let more than 10 emails stay in your in box for more than a twenty four hour period. This clutter can lead to several problems. You will miss important or time sensitive email, you will feel drained before you've even started to look at your email, and you will waste time trying to find important resources because you have so much clutter to wade through. Every day when you check your email go through the three S's to keep things clutter free. Sort- delete any spam or other unimportant email. Scan the email that's left and see if you need to reply to it now, if it would be useful to save for a resource, or pass it along to someone in your network Save- emails you want to keep should be put into clearly organized folders.

Set up specific folders- It's helpful to have a folder name and then subcategories under that. For example: Clients would be the folder and then in that folder would be a separate file for each client. Newsletters- and files for special interest newsletters, articles, and resources for work this makes things easy to find and easy to share with your clients and your network. It's very helpful to set up corresponding folders in your programs, one for Word, Excel, Acrobat for PDF's

Save your correspondence- keep your outgoing and incoming emails. This is very helpful for work related emails. It is useful when you are asked to resend information. If you are working on a project or are engaged in a marketing campaign it's helpful to save in-coming email for reference, resource, and referrals to colleagues.

Leverage your email as a free marketing tool. Put together a powerful signature file at the end of your out going emails. This is your electronic version of your business card. Most email programs will allow you to have several signature files that can automatically be attached to your outgoing emails. You could design a few different ones to call attention to different areas of your business. You want to limit the signature file to 5-6 lines and keep the lines under 60 characters long. Make sure if you put a website address in it to put http:// in the address, this will make the address an active link to the recipient. You will want to do the same with your email address by adding mailto: in front of the email address without any spaces in between.

Make sure you have a good anti virus software installed on your computer and set up to scan your incoming emails. You will see an active icon in the lower right hand corner near the clock, this will let you see each incoming email is being scanned. If an email is detected select delete infected source. This will keep your computer safe while still allowing you to see who sent the email. People don't often realize they have just sent out an infected email. If it is a friend or colleague who sent it you can call and let them know they have a problem before they send other infected email.

Make sure to back up your computer at least once a week. Your organized email folders contain a wealth of useful information and resources and are a valuable asset to your career so make sure to protect them and the rest of your files by backing up your computer.

Sort your email folders once a quarter. Go through your saved emails and delete things that are no longer useful.

Review your email before sending. Check it for formatting, spelling, clarity, and effective communication. If you are asking someone a few questions make them obvious and succinct so they can easily respond without wading through a four page email.

Business email Policy

To protect the efficiency and reputation of your business, you will need to ensure that employees are using business computer resources responsibly. In particular, staff use of the Internet and email is open to abuse, and you need to make your employees aware of the guidelines and restrictions that apply.

To protect your business in case of possible legal action, you should be able to prove that you have a policy in place to prevent illegal or inappropriate activities from taking place. You should also be able to show that your policy is being enforced. Employees should be aware of the implications of abusing their use of email and the Internet. This should include an understanding of consequences the business might face and any disciplinary action that can be taken against the employee for breaching the rules set out in the policy.

The policy should state who is allowed to access the Internet and whether they can access it for personal as well as business use. If you allow staff some personal use of the Internet you should clearly define how long and when this can be done. Emphasise that personal use should not interfere with individual work responsibilities.

Whether monitoring will take place you should say whether emails will be intercepted and read. What is not allowed, including:

Make it clear that only work-related emails should be sent. Employees should avoid forwarding messages to long circulation lists as this will slow down email traffic.

Emphasise that copying material from the Internet is prohibited as this breaches the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Warnings about the risks of using unregulated information from the Internet. A lot of information is out of date and often just the opinion of the writer.

Rules on downloading files, for example always scanning for viruses.

Housekeeping issues. This should include information on how emails should be deleted or archived. It could also include information on password security and locking keyboards to avoid use by unauthorised users.

email etiquette. This could include information on how best to write emails, for example how to address the recipient, writing in a business-like style.

When to attach disclaimers to emails. This can reduce the risk of legal action in the event of an erroneous or defamatory statement being sent via email.

Information about the laws governing data protection, e-commerce and e-marketing.

Disciplinary actions for breaching the rules. This could range from verbal warnings to dismissal depending on the seriousness of the breach.

Your policy should not simply be a list of negative instructions. Employees need to understand that the Internet and email services are provided for business use first and foremost. However, it is often accepted that some personal use will occur, and therefore you will need to clearly define if this is acceptable and when it is permitted.

When developing your policy it is important to consult with your employees to get their ideas. This will help them to understand the purpose of the policy and is likely to encourage them to adopt and respect it.

You will need to decide whether all your employees need access to Internet and email facilities. What controls are you going to introduce, for example will employees be allowed personal use of the Internet and email as long as they do this in their own time during lunch breaks and after hours?

You can find many examples of standard policies on the Internet, but you will probably need to customise them for your own business requirements. Aim to make sure your policy strikes a balance between preventing misuse and allowing some flexibility for staff. Make sure that the policy is clearly written and can be accessed by everyone in the business.

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